I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for conducting control and data transmissions in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services may be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems may be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link may be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
In a single carrier system such as a Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) system, a transmission can be scheduled in frequency such that it spans a localized frequency band. Further, in the case of control transmission, one or more control channels can be variably mapped depending on whether other channels are present in order to preserve the single-carrier nature of a transmitted waveform. However, control channels subject to variable mapping can exhibit varying quality of service (QoS) depending on their mapped location within a transmitted waveform, which can cause degradation in overall system performance. Thus, there is a need to ensure that a given QoS for the control channels is maintained irrespective of their mapping to physical channels in a single carrier system.